Wednesday, February 29, 2012

1. I remember being in the circular courtyard at the student housing in Silver City. I also remember someone being sick there and having a humidifier in the room and being told to not touch it because it would burn.
2. I remember waking up Christmas morning and finding a wooden cradle that Grandpa Merrell had made me for Christmas. There were three cradles. One for Phyllis, Celia and myself. I think they are all still owned by daughters or granddaughters. We lived in the house that Jack and Iva Adams lived in for many years.
3. I remember riding in Audry Miller's car/bus to take me to the Apache School where my father was the teacher. If he was the teacher, why didn't we ride to school with him? I also remember my dad getting the whooping cough while we lived there. I looked out the window one night and my dad was standing outside coughing his head off in his underwear. I think he was outside to try to get air. We all laughed and thought it was really funny, but of course it wasn't because he was really sick. I also remember that a friend gave him whisky to drink for cough medicine. It stayed in our cupboard for many years. As a child I thought that was really different because of the word of wisdom, but in those days people didn't go to the doctor as much and I guess it really did help.
4. Also in Rodeo, it was out tradition at Christmas to take one of our old toys and give it to a family who was less fortunate. I had such a big heart that I gave away my favorite doll and then cried and cried. Mom and dad got the doll back and I found a new toy to give. I had a big heart, but was still a little child.
5. I remember once in the house behind the gas station that I got up in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve and discovered Santa at work. We had our Christmas on a back porch of the house. I was shooed away to bed. I didn't even realize what I had seen until many years later.